The holidays can be a stressful time for everyone, but even more so for people whose lives have been touched by cancer in one way or another.

A local nonprofit is helping those impacted by cancer by offering free non-medical services. Cancer CAREpoint provides non-medical services to anyone diagnosed with any type of cancer at any stage, as well as their caregivers and family members. This was the idea that community advocate and cancer survivor Gay Crawford has seen come to fruition since the nonprofit’s inception: CARE stands for counseling, assistance, resources and education.

“It’s important to be able to provide these services,” said executive director Rob Tufel. “It’s very expensive to get sick in this country; having cancer is also a financial crisis. We don’t want to add the stress of having to pay for these services.”

Cancer CAREpoint provides support group sessions for different types of cancer, caregivers, teens with parents who are cancer patients and cancer survivors. The nonprofit also provides one-on-one services like massage therapy, nutrition consultations and a wig bank for those who have lost their hair.

Tufel said he remembers one client who started crying when she realized she could get a wig through Cancer CAREpoint.

“I didn’t think I could afford the wig,” the woman told him. “I didn’t think I could afford to have cancer.”

Cancer CAREpoint offers informative classes like meditation and guided imagery as well as individual counseling.

The nonprofit has experienced tremendous growth in the last few years. Initially, a small space opened in 2012, but in 2013 Cancer CAREpoint opened a suite three times the size of the first space.

Tufel said the nonprofit expects to have served 1,000 new clients by the end of 2016. According to Tufel, 20 people in California hear the words “you have cancer” every hour.

Since the services offered by the nonprofit are free to its clients, funding for programs comes from grants and large events.

One of the events, the annual Garden Party held Aug. 28 this year, raised $635,000.

Allison Jones Thomson, Cancer CAREpoint board chair, said the event raises half the organization’s annual revenue. Other funding come from mail appeals made twice a year or from survivors who are now in better financial situations and are able to donate.

“It really is because of the generosity of the community in one way or another,” Thomson said.

Cancer CAREpoint was developed in 2009 when Dave Henderson, CEO of Samaritan Medical Center, asked Crawford to build a cancer center with him on the corner of Samaritan Drive and Los Gatos Boulevard. What followed was a series of about 250 focus groups and meetings with cancer patients, caregivers and leaders of cancer organizations to design patient services that would make living with cancer more bearable. The services that came out of these meetings, conducted by Crawford and Bill Piché, became Cancer CAREpoint in 2012. A thumbprint of each of the meeting participants hangs at Cancer CAREpoint in San Jose.

“The blessing for us is that we have been able to build an independent program in a warm and caring space, which can be available for all patients, no matter where they are treated,” Crawford said. “The program ideas really grew out of my experiences with others, the thousands of people I’ve talked to over the years, my work with Hospice of the Valley, the American Cancer Society and the Cancer Prevention Institute.”

Crawford, who was diagnosed with breast cancer 42 years ago on Nov. 22, said she has counseled thousands of cancer patients over the years.

She said she has been treated for both breast cancer and non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.

Crawford isn’t the only one at the nonprofit who has had a personal experience with cancer. Thomson lost her father to the disease when she was just a teenager. She said when it happened, she didn’t tell anyone at school because she didn’t know how to talk about it. She said there wasn’t an organization like Cancer CAREpoint then.

“It’s a tough time of the year,” Thomson said. “While people in general are forward-thinking and focused on family and making memories, those diagnosed with cancer and challenged with thinking about their own mortality. It’s a heavy burden.”